Well, this one is a ways off yet. The book isn't due to be released until about April or so, but I'm looking over the galley draft today and it's freaking awesome. Twenty-five stories, 146 pages, and some creepy spooky interior illustrations.

I haven't seen the cover yet - that's still in the works - but I am really looking forward to seeing this hit print.

That reminds me of one of the Pink Panther movies when Peter Sellers sees a dog at the desk of a hotel and asks this hotel clerk if his dog bites. The hotel clerk says no so Sellers goes to pet the dog and the dog bites him. "I thought you said your dog don't bite?" screams Sellers. The hotel clerk says, "its not my dog."

To paraphrase Chevy Chase, "This is no longer a vacation. It's a quest. A quest for Wicked Woods."

Hope you find this as amusing as I do, Steve.

I went into Barnes and Noble on Friday. I asked the young lady at the info desk if she could order the book for me. She tried to pull it up on the computer, couldn't, and asked me if the book actually existed. I said, "Do any of us actually exist?" This confused her more. She then found Haunted Harbours and asked if that was it. I found myself with several different avenues to go down with my answer, and I chose the snarky one. I said, "Wicked Woods? Haunted Harbours? I don't know, alliteration was never my strong suit."

So I sent Amazon an email about this. They responded with the typical retail two-step (which I know quite well). Part of their answer was ridiculous. They said all the Amazon sites are separate entities, that each one gets their good from regional distributors, blah blah blah, yadda yadda yadda, but I could order the book from Amazon.ca, using my Amazon.com user id and password. So I responded by asking them if .com and .ca seem to share databases, despite being separate entities, why can't .com have .ca send them some copies of the book to sell on .com. Still waiting on their reply.

Buy.com has it, but they're out right now. I'll wait until the end of the week and if they don't have it back in stock by then, I'll go through Amazon.ca.

I'll get the book eventually, I know that. But a part of me is having a little fun at being a squeaky wheel about it. I might even get Amazon.com to get it quicker. Nah, I doubt that. But everyone needs hopes and aspirations.

I appreciate the offer, Steve, but to be truthful, I'm having fun being a bit of a dick to these idiots.

To wit, Amazon.com sent me a response to my second email. Somewhere in the middle is a sentence telling me they don't transfer goods between websites. The rest of the email is them extolling the virtues of my being able to use my .com stuff to go on .ca. It seems that they think that is my problem, not the fact they don't have something.

In fact, I think I scared them. They sent the email twice.

Like I said, I do have a line or two on a copy. I was just hoping to brighten my little corner of the world.

Right. So after a couple of months of waiting for Buy.com to show they had copies of this, one day they showed that it wasn't coming out until October. So I broke down, ordered it on Amazon.ca, got prison raped on shipping, but I'm finally getting it.

Well, when I ordered it last Monday, both the book and the shipping were around $11.50 US. It arrived today, and the receipt said $10. I have no idea what I was actually charged (probably the first price I listed). But the most important thing is I have the book and your sales numbers continue to climb. I'm just happy to be a part of that.

I do appreciate the offer. I just feel like it would have put you out because I was complaining about Amazon so much.